The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-05-07
VOL. XXII.-NO. 20.

Great Britain and Ross Winans to own
lands in both hemisfN eres.
Peter Cooper's engine was not per-
manent success, and most of the cars had
to be drawn by horses In December,
1881, when the road was oR ened to Fred
erick there was grand PROCESSION of cars
drawn by caparisoned horsesA with the
Governor and his suit in the 'front.' car. 1t
was big sight for the people, andNhe en-
thusiasm was tremendous. AT first the
cars and locomotives had wheels with faAges
on the outside, but after several years of
frequent mishaps Mechanic Winans in
vented the present system, and made it
possible for a car to run a curve without
leaving the track. The first really good
locomotive was the York, manufactured at
York, Pa, which took the prize in COM
petitive contest. 1t made mile in three
minutes drawing car containing forty
persons. An old gentleman now living in
Baltimore, who was one of the passengers,
said, the other day, that he has never been
able to forget his feelings on that occasion.
At first he did not think the iron arrange
ment would go, but when it started he did
not expect 10 escape alive, and when it got
to going up grade at the speed of a mile
in three minutes he thought the millen-
mum had surely come
The builder Of the York, Phineas Davis,
was made Chief Constructor of Engines,
and so thorough was his work that some
of the engines built by him on the model
of the York are still in use as Regulators
Then after the York came the famous
"camer' engines, invented by Ross Wi
mans, ponderous, powerful machines which
have lasted the wear and tear of many
years. The development of the car was as
interesting as that of the engine. First,
gorgeously painted wagons on railroad
wheels, then something resembling an old
fashioned street car, then the Winans cars,
with eight wheels, and with seats on top
as well as inside, and then the gradual i'm
provement until the modern coach was
reached.
The growth of the Baltimore and Ohio
was as rapid as enterprise and money could
make it, but there came time when the
money gave out The men expected S4,-
100000 to build road 10 the west. They
found that by the time they got to Har-
per's Ferry, 81 miles, all this sum was
gone. Railroad building was a bigger af-
fair than they had bargained for And then
came the fight with the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal This contest was particularly
bitter, and, although it was compromised,
it has lasted to the present. The conse-
quence is that the iron horse has beaten the
canal mule, and the cold DITCH" as it is
called by Marylanders, is so inextricably in
debt that it will probably be sold during
the present year.
The city and State came to the rescue
of the railroad, and it pushed on its opera
tions. In 1912 it reached Cumberland,
in 1943 Wheeling, and in 1857, when it
ran into st. Louis and Cincinnati, a great
celebration was held in the latter city, and
President Buchanan was passenger on
the first through train. All these advances
were not made without a struggle. The
road was in a chronic condition of poverty,
1t went ahead until its money gave out,
and then it had to stop until it could in
fuse little confidence in the public mind.
At one time it was so badly off that over
a half million of the city stock was paid
out as currency to creditors and contrac-
tors. At another time anybody could get
all the stock he wanted at $29 share.
There was difficulty, too, in getting char
tiers from other States. At Cumberland
the road halted for seven years. 1t re-
quired stout determination to build the
road over the mountains, for it is without
doubt one of the boldest pieces of engi-
neering this side of the Rocky Mountains.
There are twelve tunnels in this stretch of
road between Cumberland and Wheeling,
and the work is all the more remarkable
because it was before the time of modern
methods and appliances.